Nightmare (Custom Mech)
Description Dating back before the Star League collapsed, this 'Mech has been on the drawing board for almost five centuries. Designed around the idea of combining the Null Signature System with the Chameleon Light Polarization Shield to create an assassin style 'Mech that is able to get within its range without so much as a scratch. The design got sidelined due to serious heat problems and being fragile once within range as well as the loss of the technology. With the advent of technology during the Jihad and the style of fighting employed by the Word of Blake during this time, it would be no surprise that the Word would dig up this age old design to bring it up to the standards of the time. What is surprising is the fact it never made it out of the prototype stage. The design had several troubles even without the addition of the Null-Signature System and Chameleon LPS, ranging from the limited space within its bird like profile and continued heat issues from original prototype from the Star League era. Shortly before Stone's invasion of Terra, Word of Blake technicians finally got a working prototype out, the NTR-1P, while not the intended design, it was a huge step in the right direction. Right before ships reached Terra, the NTR-1S was finished, imitating its predecessor albeit a primitive version despite its inclusion of the experimental Angel ECM. Thus the program began to take off with several other variants entering the drawing board and a few popping up in the Invasion of Terra, though all were still considered Prototypes. Devlin Stone was the one to discover the design and its many Prototypes following the fall of the Blake Protectorate and continued the development until in 3086, they finally happened upon a functional version of both the Null-Signature System and the Chameleon LPS in pieces of scrap left over from Terra. Leading to the design of NTR-1N, which would utilize captured AES systems to help it make sure that all of its firepower would connect even at the high speeds the mech is capable of. A couple of seperate versions (designated NTR-1NT) were created sacrificing the Light Ferro Fibrous, AES, and TAG to put in place 2 Double Heat Sinks, TSM, as well as another Small Laser to allow even faster moves, and harder kicks enabling firepower and speed over accuracy and support. Capabilities Considering the mech was originally was designed around two pieces of incredibly rare technology, the designers have never spared any expense in making this mech, regardless of whether it's the original design or one of the many variant prototypes created by Word of Blake and Comstar a like. As the basis for each mech, most of the variants were made with Endo Steel skeletons, which keeps the massive 280 XL Engine in place. Most variants that were given short range weapons were given a Supercharger attached to the engine to give MASC bursts of speed without sacrificing too much space or tonnage; While considered more dangerous than MASC, its serious space saving advantages on such a cramped mech, as well as the fact failure of the Supercharger may result in an engine hit, it will still be able to run at great speeds which a MASC failure would not allow. With the Supercharger its capable of reaching 172.8 km/h, giving incredible speed which is unparalleled by any 35 ton mech out there. One variant was given TSM to handle high heat and capable of going even faster, topping out at 194.4 km/h which almost matches a Clan Dasher in speed (with its MASC activated). The armor protecting this mech varies by variant, all variants mount close to maximum armor its capable of carrying, while it was not meant to see much fire and use its equipment to avoid too much attention, in the case it does take a lucky shot it is still able to remain operable. Comstar would also turn this into more of a hunter sensor mech when they got a hold of the design, utilizing experimental Angel ECM suites and Bloodhound Active Probes to augments this Mechs' hunting abilities, especially of other scout mechs which this mech proved to be a huge threat to in initial testing. A consistent thing among all variants is its level of Modular capabilities, designed to allow for the arm weapons to be easier to change out to fit the needs of the mission; Some thought the mech to actually be OmniMech, which was the original intent of the Word of Blake, but due to certain variants requiring different armor and not meant to all use the Null-Sig System or the CLPS, this was dropped in favor just allowing the arms to retain the Modular ability. Variants While there were many variants that were manufactured during the prototype stage, 2 designs stuck out as extremely radical departures. * NTR-1XA - The first design, labeled the 1X, uses a Clan XL engine to allow space for its weaponry, it loads 8 Clan Machine Gun Arrays with 4 per array. 4 full tons of ammo keep all guns firing for a full 2 1/2 minutes, allowing it to not only to deal with infantry, but also cripple mechs and vehicles up too twice its size. The only foreseen problem of the mech is the lack of a supercharger for the boost in speed needed to get within range to fire the arrays. Due to the large amount of anti-infantry weapons, it gained the nickname "Massacre" especially after it received several "live-fire" trials. BV (2.0) = 976 ---- * NTR-11N - Labeled by most as the Nightmare II due to the considerable change in design, uses some of the most cutting edge technology enabling its mobility to an extreme, but making its firepower suffer just as much. Utilizing the equipment from the 1N, it adds Jump Jets to jump 240 meters as well as a Clan Partial Wing system to extends its jump capability to an impressive 300 meters. Six tons of Clan Ferro Fibrous protect it from weapons fire reaching the Composite Structure, while 4 Micro Pulse Lasers in each arm give its firepower, while 13 Clan Double Heat Sinks keep most of the heat manageable. BV (2.0) = 1,060 ---- Category:BattleMechsCustom